


Overdependent

by OmnipresentNuance



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Heartbreak, Picnic, Sibling Love, Sibling comfort, closet, park
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24428563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmnipresentNuance/pseuds/OmnipresentNuance
Summary: At the beginning of the afternoon, Luan was her typical, happy-go-lucky self. By the end, she is as despondent and heartbroken as she’s ever been, but she refuses to disclose what happened to her concerned family. Eventually, Luna tries isolating Luan just long enough to get her to talk, only for her sister to also voice a second, stranger worry she’s also been holding on to.
Kudos: 1





	Overdependent

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone. Got one last thing to publish just before the month is over and before a new month similar writing antics, hi-jinks and all that fun stuff in between shall begin.
> 
> All right, so you can probably tell that among other things, this is the second story in a row featuring Luan in a starring role I've posted in recent times where she is also in some sort of dire straights, at least emotionally more specifically in this case. But don't worry, this wasn't intentional and it was only based on what came to be finished next. Plus if anything else, this story acts as the latest contribution to the "Luan is sad and Luna wants to help her out" subgenre, assuming something like that exists.
> 
> I will also put out there in advance that the reason for why Luan is sad is hardly the first time it's come about, though I think it's done differently just enough. However, I am going to issue a statement, or more like an advance apology of sorts, in regards to how it's done and who it involves, which is to say...uh, oh dear...with all due sincerest apologies to all the Luaggie and Luanny shippers.
> 
> ...Yeah...what am I about to get myself into? Hopefully too not much...
> 
> But with all that having been said, go ahead, give this a read and enjoy...at least that's the hope!
> 
> The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.

A lovely, picturesque mid-afternoon had taken shape across town. It was one fine enough for Luan Loud to take in every second of it as she was on her way home from a recent comedy performance of hers.

And just because she could, she made and told herself several nature themed puns and jokes along her travels back home. Such a sampling, or _sapling_ as she maybe could have put it included...

"Trees are like loud yapping, yet otherwise gentle dogs...they're all _bark_ and no bite!"

"My first reaction when seeing a beautiful, pollinated field of flowers? I can't _bee_ -live how pretty they are!"

"How did the wind react after it was asked how life can be? It's a _breeze_!"

"The way in which the biggest, brightest and hottest star in the galaxy likes it's breakfast? With a serving of eggs made _sunny_ side up!"

Certainly like with any of her material, not everything was going to land, but her own amusement in the moment was largely what mattered to her the most.

As she continued her journey home, Luan was walking through a park that was little bit away from town and thus had more tranquility and serenity to it. It was enough for her to take more of her time just to enjoy the added calm of the surroundings.

But quickly upon crossing into this park, a sight came into her field of vision that stopped Luan dead in her tracks. Such a sight it was, she ducked behind a tree in an act of nervous desperation and primarily as to not be seen by who had just arrived.

This particular "who" in question was Benny, the boy from school who is Luan's crush. Recent events allowed for her to express subtly to him those feelings thanks to sending him an anonymous love letter, which was itself inspired by the heart-racing escapade she and her siblings went through after most of them were convinced for a little while they had gotten a letter of such themselves.

While watching on from a distance with great curiosity from behind the tree, Luan witnessed Benny going up a grassy hilltop whilst carrying a picnic basket. Once he reached the top, he laid out a blanket, put the basket aside and sat down. In the meantime, he also took out his phone and appeared to be texting to someone.

In this moment, Luan was experiencing a whole range of emotions seeing this. She felt embarrassed about giving out what could be justifiably seen as a bit of a stalkerish vibe from the position she was in, but also didn't want to go straight up and interrupt whatever Benny's plans were by saying "hi". Yet at the same time, another ambitious side of her was seriously considering doing just that, as to her, this idyllic scene looked like something out of her dreams. Here was her crush sitting on top of a hill all ready for a picnic with the afternoon sun beginning to set pitch perfectly in the background, and if Luan was really feeling in making a bold prediction in the realm of her dreams, the idea that _she_ could be the one Benny was waiting for was sending her heart racing. If that was even within the remotest realms of possibility in being true, what better way or setting could there be for her to work up the courage to go up, ask if she could join him and ultimately confess in full her feelings to him?

As a little war waged between her heart and mind over that far out prospect and what to do, a sudden appearance by another girl apparently going up to Benny brought Luan back down to reality. Only now realizing that this tree may no longer be the best hiding spot and looking just to her left, she saw a small bush which she chose to duck inside of, giving her both more concealment from any other outside onlookers who might be suspicious about her sightseeing act while still being able to watch the unfolding situation before her.

Luan squinted her eyes in order to try to get better look at the girl whose arrival caught the onlooking comedienne off guard. Based on what she can tell, this girl had long black hair, what appeared to be freckles on her face, very oddly gray skin akin to what Luan's own younger sister Lucy has and had an attire that included a bluish short sleeve shirt layered on top of a longer sleeved one with stripes on it and a lavender sweatshirt tied around her waist.

It took a couple more seconds, but it suddenly hit Luan as to who this was.

"Wait…isn't that...Maggie?"

Indeed, Maggie, the 13-year-old cynical emo girl who Luan recalls performing at her birthday party alongside with Lincoln. Or to more accurately think back in the events that occurred, Lincoln in the beginning performing at that party by himself after pompously believing he can do it on his own solely with the pratfalls which Luan reminded in a scolding manner he can't always totally rely on, which he soon learned after bombing badly in front of Maggie, her fellow emo lifestyle adopting friends and to the parents watching on, then sent out a desperation phone call to Luan in needing her assistance, something she did ultimately acquiesce to, and finally turned things around with a dual mime act that actually impressed the cold, misanthropic crowd before them, birthday girl included. Heck, someone in the back of the crowd even tossed a black rose onstage which Luan accepted.

But that was back then, and now, Luan was more than just a little bit curious as to why this girl who she's never so much as seen again up until now, let alone ever interacted with since, was here and seemingly joining with Benny.

Upon Maggie's arrival, Benny stood up for a moment and greeted her with a hug which she reciprocated immediately. This was a surprising act to Luan right away, because even though she did recall Maggie smiling at the end of the mime act she and Lincoln did, that didn't exactly give her the impression that the emo girl was some sort of consistently happy person or was particularly keen on physical interactions like hugging. Nonetheless, she kept on watching.

The next thing that happened after the hug was that Benny and Maggie sat down next to one another and started talking. Luan couldn't really make out what was being said, but did clearly hear and see them laughing moments later. Again, like with the hug, laughter wasn't also something she'd expect from Maggie.

But what came next wasn't just unexpected from that girl, but also from Benny as well.

Luan's eyes widened and let out a small gasp when she saw the two of them put one arm around the other, with Benny's around Maggie's shoulders and Maggie's around Benny's waist. This is when Luan began to assume the worst, but didn't want to jump to conclusions right away. She tried rationalizing that perhaps they were simply friends, because there was nothing wrong with a boy and a girl holding each other like this, right? She even tried theorizing that there could have been siblings, which would've been a long shot due to them not having anything at all of physical resemblances. Then again in Luan's case, she had almost resemblance to say...her own only brother Lincoln, aside from both having their front teeth visible nearly all the time, but that doesn't change the fact that they were related and that she loved him a whole lot, so if not friends, why couldn't Benny and Maggie possibly be related, either?

However, Luan's attempts at rationalization got a little weaker when Benny leaned over and kissed Maggie on her cheek. The worries got more heightened, but again Luan tried to excuse it away. Friends and siblings both kiss one another on their cheeks all the time, so what's there to worry about, right? Right?

But that all went out the window as Maggie would respond to Benny's little act of affection by suddenly kissing him straight on the lips.

And with that, Luan felt like her heart was beginning to tear into two. The only glimmer of hope she had left was that she hoped based of the suddenness of Maggie kissing him and given his lack of an initial reaction, Benny was left as stunned as Luan was. But that too ended up being dashed when Benny kissed Maggie back, slower albeit, yet still with enough effort to show there wasn't any shred of doubt over as to how he must've felt for her.

That was all Luan needed to see or ever wanted her eyesight to bear witness to. Those very same eyes welled up with tears as mixtures of jealousy, anger and complete heartbreak swirled inside of her. She didn't care if they were together for any length of time prior to this or if this was the first time they've come to terms about their feelings for each other, it hurt way too much for Luan to see the boy she'd been crushing on was apparently taken now and by some emo girl no less. She didn't care how this came about or needed to see them for any longer period of time engage in their little picnic, as she wanted to just slip away unnoticed and get as far away from here as humanly possible.

* * *

Back over at the Loud house, things appeared to be normal. The siblings were all cobbled together in the living room watching TV.

The attention of the siblings would be quickly diverted away from the TV to the front door opening up when Luan arrived home, though right away they can tell she wasn't in the best of spirits.

"Hey, Luan...whoa, is there something wrong?" Lana said, starting off upbeat, but changing in tone upon seeing her older sister's somewhat downtrodden stance.

"Huh? Oh, I'm good." Luan responded with her best effort in cheeriness.

"Are you sure? You look a little listless from what I can see." Lucy noted, "Did something bad happen at your performance?"

"Oh, no, not at all. The show went well and everything in between. Maybe I'm just a little exhausted because my arms are tired from flapping all the way home!" Luan tried in joking around, "But I am also a bit parched, so maybe all I need is a drink."

While she departed for the kitchen, her siblings looked at one another, all of which appeared unconvinced and worried that something less than pleasant did actually happen to her. In particular, Leni seemed strangely deep in thought, which didn't go unnoticed to her older sister.

"Uh, no Leni, Luan did not literally fly over here if that's what you were thinking about." Lori stated as a matter of fact.

"Huh? No, Lori, I wasn't thinking about that. I was only wondering if there might be something wrong with her. She did seem a bit sad…" Leni said rising with concern.

"Wu-an 'ad?" Lily babbled worriedly.

"Yeah, I totally saw through that act of hers. Something _has_ to be up." Lola added.

"Perhaps, but what exactly?" Lynn asked.

"I share similar inquiries and sympathies with our sister with whom jesting is her life's work, siblings. However, she doesn't seem to be too forthcoming in revealing any such potential lamentations, and as much as it's in our instincts to approach as one amorphous familial collective and get her to conjure up any possible aforementioned lamentations, it may be most advisable to let her do that voluntarily, again assuming something's putting the fourth eldest among us in a lowered state of mind and/or emotion." Lisa posited.

Meanwhile, as all this was being debated and discussed, Luan arrived at the kitchen where both her parents also happened to be in as well and like her siblings, also were curious about how her day went.

"Hi there, Luan, welcome home." Rita greeted her, "Don't think we heard you coming back. But that aside, how did your latest comedy show go?"

"Well, if I'm a betting man and knowing what a master at her craft she is, I'd say she put the crowd down for a count of ten, because it must have been a _knockout!"_ Lynn Sr. joked to his wife, then turned over to their daughter, "Am I right, honey?"

"Um...sure, Dad, let's go with that." Luan said, trailing with some nervous laughter.

As she opened up the refrigerator and searched around for a worthwhile beverage, her parents started growing concerned.

"Luan, are you all right?" Rita asked.

"Yeah, I am, Mom. Why wouldn't I be?" Luan asked in return, having also getting herself a small bottle of fruit punch.

"Well, you did sound a little...I guess out of sorts when you spoke after your father here just now asked how everything went." Rita said.

"So? Maybe I am to an extent." Luan conceded before taking a quick gulp of her punch, "Besides, everything went fine and the show was okay."

"It was only okay? That doesn't exactly sound reassuring if I'm being honest with you, Luan." Lynn Sr. remarked, "Is there something else that's getting to you?"

"No, there's nothing 'getting to me', Dad! Can you and Mom simply drop it?" Luan demanded irritably.

She let out an annoyed groan and left the kitchen with her punch, leaving behind her parents, who just like her siblings, weren't really convinced about her claims of nothing being wrong.

Between that point and until dinnertime came about, no one else attempted reaching out to or otherwise talk to Luan. They largely adhered to Lisa's earlier recommendation of allowing her the time and choice of possibly divulging anything that may be bothering her if in fact something like that was the case at all.

For the most part in the time, Luan kept to herself. She truly did hate keeping her family in the dark about the heartbreaking scenes she had to witness, but she also in the moment didn't really want a whole cluster of familial worry coming down on her or for them to be dragged into some kind of despondence of their own should she reveal it all.

This bottling up of her heartbreak only continued as she joined her family at the dinner table. Again, no one tried in coaxing out of Luan any sort of addition information of the afternoon's events and otherwise their meal went along uneventfully.

However, soon nearing the end of dinner, Luan didn't make such lack of eventfulness or any increasing concerns from her family any easier based on the way she conducted herself. She had started fidgeting around in her seat, her bottom lip quivered here and there and at one point, she shut her eyes and banged her fist moderately on the table twice. It all caused everyone within her family to direct their attention right at her.

"What?" Luan asked, more than a little mildly put off.

"Luan...we've tried not saying anything up until now, but I think I can confidently speak for everyone in saying that there has to be something seriously bothering you." Lori spoke up.

"No, Lori, there isn't." Luan denied almost petulantly.

"I'll admit to being skeptical of the matter in the initial stages, but I must now fully confess that I concur with our eldest sibling that there may be a pervasive problem tucked within given your restless and dare I say questionable bodily gestures on top of this defensive cognition you're displaying." Lisa observed.

"Oh, when did you become a junior therapist on me, Lisa?" Luan wondered bitterly.

"Hold on, Luan, please don't be like this." Rita tried in tamping her daughter's agitation down, "We're just really concerned about you is all."

"Yeah, your mother's right. If you only just tell us, maybe we can try understanding whatever you're going through better and help out." Lynn Sr. added.

"Oh, give me a break!" Luan shouted, banging her fist on the table thrice in the span of the last minute or so, "Not one of you would understand or even relate to the feelings of hopelessness I've been going through since just before I came back home! My heart is already broken and sunk into the depth of despair, so why should I drag you all down with me by telling you everything?! It would just make you all too sad..."

And with that, she promptly bolted out of her chair, went up the stairs and slammed shut the door to her bedroom.

In her wake, everyone else was left in shock. Some were even on the verge of tears themselves just from the audacious claim of Luan that no one would understand her feelings or especially that part about dragging everybody else down with her and causing them to be sad.

With it now apparently clear that there was really something wrong with Luan, no one knew how to proceed from here. It was obvious she refuses to tell anyone in her family whatever had occurred that put her in such a downcast mood.

But there was an outside chance that one person among them could be able to just about reach into the depths of Luan's soul, pull out the pain she was going through, dispense of it and finally bring her back into her normally blithe, lighthearted sense of self.

While everybody else was either busy clearing the table, washing dishes, grabbing another spot of TV watching or whatever else, Luna decided to take it upon herself to see if she can get Luan to open up in any capacity at all. She had stayed mainly quiet in regards to her roommate's potential problems because there was a part of her that hoped that Luan would at some point come to her if indeed something was truly upsetting her. But when nothing of the sort happened, Luna honestly felt quite disappointed. She really thought that she out of anyone in their family would be the one that Luan could turn to for anything at all, so for that to not happen came as a bit of a shocker to Luna. But a lack of action on her comedienne sister's part wasn't going to deter the rocker from trying in helping out herself.

Arriving at the door leading to the room they shared, Luna very gently opened it and peered around. She didn't see Luan anywhere at first glace, which given she and everyone else in her family heard the sound of the door slam shut, this came as something of an anomaly.

Luna almost stepped back out and tried looking elsewhere, but a small detail suddenly stood out to her. One of the doors to the closet was barely left open. If she had a hutch, Luna had to guess maybe Luan could be in there.

By the time she headed over there, that proved to be correct as she looked inside and say her younger sister sitting down facing away.

"Luan?" Luna softly addressed her.

Luan hardly reacted if at all. Nevertheless, Luna stepped into the closet, shut the door to give them both the maximum amount of privacy possible and took a seat next to her sister.

"Hey, Luan?" Luna tried again in speaking.

Finally, Luan turned her head and looked at the concerned face of her older sister. She also showed off to her that her eyes and cheeks were damp, too.

"What are you doing here, Luna?" Luan asked, the strain in her voice being very apparent.

"I want to get down to knowing what's been making you blue. It's as simple as that." Luna explained.

"But...what if I don't want to tell you or anyone?" Luan wondered, "I mean, it's like I said back at dinner that I don't want to make everyone else sad, plus I don't want them to overwhelm me by coming all around me at once or anything…"

With it getting harder for her to kept things together once more, Luan buried her face into her knees, which gave her sister all the reason to move over closer and put an arm around her.

"Luan, I...I don't think I like the way you're thinking with that first point." Luna said, squeezing her sister's shoulder lightly with her hand, "Yeah, sure, it'd suck to see our fam become sad if you told them what's upsetting you, but don't you realize that they already feel that way even without you saying anything? Right when you hightailed it outta there by the end of dinner, I can tell you personally there were some among them that practically wanted to gush their eyes out because they're so worried about you."

"They were?" Luan inquired quietly, looking back up.

"Uh-huh, that's indeed the truth." Luna emphasized, "And about that second point you said...I suppose I can sort of get your concern, but what I'm not getting at all is if you were too worried about telling everyone what's up, how come you didn't do that for me at the very least? I assumed we've always trusted each other with…"

Before Luna could finish her thought, she heard the sound of someone knocking on the bedroom door. She ignored it at first, but once a second round could be heard, she sighed, briefly left Luan's side for a moment and opened the door, whereupon she saw Lincoln before her.

"Oh, hey Luna." Lincoln said, practically as if he was a bit surprised to see her in this moment.

"Uh, hey, this might not be really a good time right now, bro. See, I'm trying to nail down what exactly is has been keeping Luan down this past little while." Luna told him.

"Oh, you are? Actually, that's what I was hoping to do myself." Lincoln said.

"Well, you don't have to worry yourself none about that, 'cause I'm getting that taken care of myself. Though I appreciate the concern, let me handle this okay?" Luna requested.

"All right, if you say so, Luna." Lincoln responded with a sigh, admittedly sounding a bit let down.

Luna grinned and laid a gentle hand on his head, then she closed the door and went back over to Luan inside the closet.

"Who was at the door?" Luan asked, apparently having not paid any attention at all.

"Oh, just our little bro checking in. He wanted to see how you were doing and apparently was suggesting he planned on talking to you, but I said that I've got that covered myself." Luna explained.

With that little interruption out of the way, Luna moved close alongside Luan again and resumed her point from before.

"Now, as I was saying, I've always thought we could trust each other with telling one or the other if ever something was worth talking about."

"Yeah, I know that, but…" Luan tried saying.

"Uh-uh, no buts, Luan." Luna cut in, again putting an arm around her, "There shouldn't be anything you need to worry about keeping locked up inside from me or really anyone else no matter how sad it might be. Now, how about we get to…"

But then for the second time, another knocking at the door put a pause into things.

"Again?" Luna grumbled.

Sighing, she once more went to the door and answered it, and for the second time, Lincoln was there, although this time he had a trash bag with him.

"Dude, I've just told you I have everything under control with Luan." Luna reemphasized with a touch of annoyance.

"I know, I know, but now I'm here because I just got reminded that today is my day for doing trash collection and needed to get it done before the end of the night." Lincoln said.

"And that can't wait until I'm done here?" Luna suggested.

"Believe me, I'd go for that myself, but...Mom and Dad's orders, so I don't really have a choice here." Lincoln said with an uneasy laugh.

Rolling her eyes and sighing again, Luna got the wastebasket laying to the side and dumped the contents inside the awaiting bag Lincoln had open.

"All right, fine, there…" Luna stated hastily, "Now can you please let me handle this without any more interference?"

With a small hesitant nod, Lincoln left the scene and Luna again shut the door before rejoining Luan.

"Right, so here's hoping that's the last time we're interrupted…" Luna said with a mixture of chafe and a forced grin, "So like I've been wanting to hear, what's been bringing you down? I really hate to…"

And no sooner had she gotten situated and speaking again did Luna hear another round of door knocking. She growled and gritted her teeth as frustration was really boiling over.

"Oh, damn it, what now?!"

Having a feeling she knew who was thrice making their presence known, she stomped back over to the door, opened it and glared right at Lincoln upon knowing it was him there again.

"Hey, Luna…" Lincoln began anxiously, "Listen, I just wanted to quickly let you know that…."

"Lincoln, can't you tell when you're not needed?!" Luna yelled at him.

She readily slammed the door shut as soon as she said that harsh declaration. But almost right after that, she sighed heavily and put her forehead against the door.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna come to regret that sooner rather than later?" Luna muttered under her breath.

Right as she then was about to go back over to Luan, she could hear Lincoln speaking softly from the other side of the door.

"Um...Luna, I know you didn't want to hear from me again so soon...but I thought at the very least you would want this back. I found it in my room on top of my dresser just as I was collecting the trash from there."

At the end of his statement, Luna felt and heard a little "tick" against one of her boots. She looked down and saw a guitar pick on the floor that she now remembered likely having forgotten in Lincoln's room earlier in the day from when she was playing a little acoustic guitar session alongside him. She picked it up and kicked herself mentally.

"Okay, make that me regretting what I said to him, oh...right about immediately."

Just to compound that increased guilt, she saw Luan peering around from the closet likely having heard and probably seen the way she shouted down at their brother. She thought about apologizing right away, but she had to guess Lincoln was already gone by now, so she had to settle for the time being with putting the guitar pick away in a drawer where she kept several of them and finally came back over to her sister.

"What was that all about?" Luan asked.

"Oh...just something real dumb that'll have to be fixed as soon as I'm done here with you." Luna answered with another sigh, "But no more delays, let's finally nail down what's been causing you all this despair, sis."

"Luna, I don't really think it's necessary for me to…" Luan attempted in saying.

"No, enough with this, Luan!" Luna interjected emotionally, "I honestly can't take it any longer! You want to talk about something not being necessary? How 'bout this whole nonsense of still not telling me what's been getting to you? And no, don't give me your excuse of worrying about making anyone upset upon you saying what it is, because dang it, you're making _me_ all upset and uptight with your refusals in spilling the details! So forget all your worries and just tell me already! Why is that so difficult for you to…"

" _I saw Benny with another girl, okay?!_ " Luan practically shrieked out.

And with that now having finally been let out into the open, she burst into heavy sobbing. Not even letting the shock of what her sister confessed to sink in for too long, Luna didn't waste a single second more in bringing Luan within the grasp of her arms, the latter of which weakly returned. In the meantime, Luna also shed some tears of her own from a combination of finally learning the heartbreaking reason for her sister's depressed state of mind, the frayed nerves she's been going through in the lead up to that discovery and even the still fresh shame over how she conducted herself toward Lincoln moments earlier.

"Oh, Luan...I'm so sorry…" Luna whispered.

The fine details of what exactly happened would wait for a little longer, as all that mattered for Luna right now was tightly holding Luan close to her and being there for her to pour everything that appeared to have been pent up for a few hours since.

Once a number of minutes have gone by, Luan seemed to calm down enough for her to potentially provide a more precise perspective on the painful picture she had to witness.

"Okay...mind getting into the nitty gritty if you're willing to?" Luna asked.

They pulled apart from their embrace, but Luna still kept one arm around her younger sister's shoulders and clasped onto one of her hands as a means to give out additional support.

"All right...I think I can now…" Luan replied through a handful of sniffles.

She took a long, deep breath to settle herself down just that bit more, then she proceeded with describing the tragic scene which unfolded before her during that instance of her choosing to go through that park earlier in the afternoon.

"Okay, you probably already know who I'm talking about, but just to repeat, Benny is of course that boy from our school who I've been having a crush on for a little while and who could've been the one that sent that love letter which caused you, me and all our siblings into thinking it could've been any one of our crushes until it was actually sent from Mom to Dad."

"Right, yeah, I remember. That was hardly that long ago." Luna said.

"Yeah…" Luan simply added, taking a second to wipe her eyes down, "But anyway...what went down is that I was on my way home and I decided in going through this park that's a little bit away from town. That's where I saw Benny going up this hill and setting up for a picnic. I didn't want him to see me there, so I hid behind a nearby tree. But then I wondered if I should mind my own business and leave or actually ask if I can join him, which I thought would also give me the chance to truly tell him I how I felt."

"Huh...I do have to say that would've made for a pretty sweet setup, but obviously that's not how things turned out, right?" Luna inquired.

"No, not even close…" Luan admitted, her mood quickly turning saddened again, "So before I gave it that much more thought, here comes that girl I implied about just a little bit ago. I'm guessing Benny was expecting her because right away they hugged upon her arrival. Then they started doing some pretty affectionate actions with each other like sitting close together, putting an arm around the other and Benny kissing her on the cheek. At first I tried to rationalizing everything that they might just be really close friends or heck, even for a fleeting moment they could even be related. But all that become hopeless once I saw the girl kissing Benny on the lips...and then he did the same, so clearly there was no more guesswork into how they must feel for one another."

For a moment, another small set of tears flowed down Luan's eyes while she leaned her head down on top of her older sister's shoulder. In turn, Luna brought her a little closer.

"But do you know what the worst part of that was, Luna? I mean, besides the fact that Benny is taken that is?" Luan tearfully questioned.

"Uh...what could that possibly be?" Luna wondered almost fearfully.

"Well...I actually sort of know the girl he's apparently been seeing or has started seeing." Luan answered.

"Wait...you do?" Luna said in disbelief, "How so? Is she some chick from school?"

"Uh, no, she's not. Technically, when I said I knew her, I should've said I know _of_ her. because I've only seen her once before. Maybe I should back up for a moment and explain something first…" Luan said.

She took another couple of seconds to collect her thoughts.

"Do you remember those times I've told you about when Lincoln was my assistant for several birthday party gigs and he'd become so self-confident in his own supposed mastery in pratfalls that he decided to perform at one party just by himself?"

"Oh, yeah, the one where you had to bail him out because he was blowing it onstage?" Luna inquired with a small chuckle, "The one where you only came to his aid because he admitted to tanking Funny Business Inc.'s reputation...and maybe out of the goodness of your heart, too?"

"Yeah, definitely because of the first part…" Luan said, laughing a little herself and even cracking a grin, "Okay, and yes, even though I told Lincoln at the time that bombing onstage would've acted as good learning experience, I don't think I'd leave him hanging for too long. Besides, it's not totally his fault things went badly there at first looking back. He probably didn't understand that he got himself into a sour pickle by not knowing ahead of time he's entertaining a bunch of emo kids who aren't the easiest to impress."

"Oh, I know exactly the sort you're talking about. You know, sometimes I really think their whole 'ugh, I hate life, it's so, like, meaningless and all' motif might really all be just an act or at the very least a phase." Luna said mildly in jest, "But anyway, we're getting kinda sidetracked here. I take it this gal who you saw canoodling with Benny is somebody you saw at that party?"

"Yeah…" Luan answered, going straight back to anguish in a hurry, "Her name was Maggie and she was also the birthday girl celebrating her becoming thirteen. Obviously now she has something else to celebrate….coming at my expense and heartbreak all the same."

As the final piece of the sad puzzle that brought Luan down hard this afternoon was put together, she whimpered and turned her head so that her face was fully against Luna's shoulder all while clinging her arms around her older sister's waist. On her end, Luna continued holding on to Luan as the two of them remained in silence for the next while.

Eventually, there were a pair of questions that were asked and in need of answering.

"Luan, while I do want to say again that I'm so sorry for all that you saw and went through, I still don't understand why you couldn't tell our whole fam about it even with whatever worries you had or at the very least talked to me specifically." Luna said.

"Well… for the first one, you know what I said during dinner about how I didn't think anyone would understand or relate to how I felt? That really was one of the reasons I didn't say anything at the time. How can any of them even remotely know what it's like to see some who've you been having a crush on...only to find them being with someone else, including someone totally unexpected?" Luan asked sadly.

"Anyone can relate to that, Luan!" Luna tried in emphasizing, "You're hardly the only one who knows that sort of feeling. Plenty of people feel low down if they learn the one they've been pining for is taken by someone else, and even if no one specifically in our family has had that exact same experience, that doesn't mean they won't feel sympathy for you. It's like what Dad said in that if all you did was tell us, we'd understand better and be all too willing to help you."

Luan had to admit that her sister was probably right. Perhaps she'd been too rigid on this notion that her family's concerns for her were only valid if even only one of them also went through the same visual and internal heartbreak that she did. It did now make her feel foolish the more she thought it over.

"Okay, I think you're right, Luna. I'll try not to be so elusive about it next time with them." Luan conceded after a sigh.

"Well, that's nice to hear, but now I want to get straight to that other concern of mine, which is why did you have such a hard time in telling me what's going on? Again, I've thought we trusted each other not just as roommates, but as sisters who've been by the side of the other all our lives." Luna reminded her once more.

"Yeah, I get that, but…" Luan attempted saying, but a groan from her put in a brief pause, "Oh, this is gonna sound so dumb…"

"Hey, _nothing_ can be seen as dumb to me if it's upsetting to you or any of my little sibs for that matter. Don't worry so much and simply tell me, okay?" Luna assured.

Coincidentally enough, it was those same additional little sibs of Luna's that in a way factored in to Luan's self alleged dumb rationale for why she had challenges opening up about the afternoon's emotionally difficult events. Even with her older sister's assurances, she still worried about how this issue was going to be perceived, but ultimately she chose to work the courage up in expressing it.

"Okay...it's just that I...I...I worry I might be too overdependent on you for anything that ever bothers me." Luan explained.

"Wait...overdependent? How? Is this something you only just now started worrying about?" Luna asked, a bit more than a little thrown off.

"Um…no, it's something I've worried about for a little while now. As for how I mean it? Well, I mean just that. Do I really need to come up to you any time some so small upsets me? I can tell you don't have that same problem yourself." Luan clarified a little further.

"I...uh, what now?" Luna uttered, still getting more confused, "Okay, what do you mean I don't have the same problem? You're making it sound like I don't look up to Lori or Leni whenever I need advice from them or if I have issues in life, which I still do both of those. Just because I'm the third oldest doesn't mean I know everything in the world or don't have my own struggles still and that is exactly why I like relying on our two oldest sisters for that sort of thing...and actually, I like doing the same with you, too."

"Huh? You...rely on _me_?" Luan asked in a genuinely shocked manner.

"'Course I do! I also do the same with Lincoln or Lisa or really anyone for that matter. You see, advice or help shouldn't be seen strictly as something that only younger siblings should seek from older ones. We're always gonna be there for each other regardless of where we stand on the age range, and if I'm gonna be brutally honest with you, I'd thought you knew that long ago." Luna said.

"Well...guess not…" Luan confessed somewhat in defeat, "But there is another reason I think this way about my issues with dependency. Although we are still over a year away from it happening, I've been thinking that when Lori leaves home, Leni will naturally take over at least in when it comes the order of age. But also I have this feeling that Lori will likely appoint you as something of a second in command to balance things out, because you know how Leni can be sometimes, even though it isn't really her fault mostly."

"I guess that could be the case, but we probably won't know for certain until we get much closer to the time when Lori does head out and about." Luna stated, "More to the point, though, how does that connect with this issue with you thinking you're too overdependent on me?"

"Right, so if that pans out with you and Leni, then there's me. Even if I don't have some sort of official title or anything, I feel like I'll still need to step up in some way as well. Heck, I actually feel that way right now. I am the fourth oldest after all and I should be ready for whenever my seven younger siblings need me for anything. Of course, those same seven also look to you too, and what would it say to them if I can't uphold my duties as their big sister if I still feel like I'm to be overly reliant toward you?" Luan wondered, following that up with a long sigh.

In Luna's mind, this conversation has gotten equal parts more far reaching and even solidly befuddling than initially thought. What began as her seeking to find the root cause of and eventually consoling her younger sister over seeing her crush involved with another girl has now gotten into uncovering a previously undisclosed issue she's been dealing with for a little while now by her own admission. No matter how, when or why Luan began feeling this way, Luna wanted to make it her priority to quell any worries or troubles of such.

After taking a moment to work out how to put it, she pulled away from the embrace she and her sister had been in, faced her and smiled.

"Luan...let me start this off by saying that I do actually find it rad that you do want to do more around here as a big sis. That's mighty admirable of you and I am proud to having know that at this moment." Luna said.

Her expression turned a bit more serious before she went on.

"But that being said, there's absolutely nothing wrong with coming to me whenever something's wrong or if you're in need of somebody to talk to. There are fewer things in life that make my heart and soul feel more vibrant than knowing I can be there for any one of my younger siblings, and that does include you. And you shouldn't have to worry about being seen as needy or dependent to me thinking that'll present weakness or inability to those seven little sibs of ours. I'd guarantee you they will never judge you for something like that, and just to give you what I feel like is the most obvious example, let me highlight the case of Lincoln. Being the right smack bang in the middle of the fam, he's every bit of a big bro to the five littlest of our sisters as he is a little bro to both of us plus Lori, Leni and Lynn, and I can tell you personally based on a couple of recent chats I've had with him that even though he has a big brother role to play, he has no shame at all in still heavily relying on his big sisters for help, advice or simply being by his side whenever he needs them, be it with me or I bet certainly with you as well. So if he doesn't have those kind of worries about depending on us or his other three big sisters too much, I see no reason at all for you to fear the same when it relates with coming to me or really anybody for anything that troubles you."

As those words from her sister started to sink in, Luan was reversing course inside about her earlier concerns. She did also feel sort of silly now over how big of a deal she made about it, but that was paltry compared to the gradual sense of alleviation she was experiencing thanks to Luna's efforts. For the first time since their talk, she showed off a real, genuine smile to her sister.

"Thanks, Luna. This was something I truly needed now that I think about it." Luan said.

To encapsulate this thankful sentiment, she gave Luna another hug, one that the latter naturally returned. Yet even then, a somewhat sad sigh still came out of the comedienne's mouth.

"Still can't believe everything that I saw with Benny, though. It just…hurts, you know?"

"Hey, I feel for you, little sis. Again, I'm always ready to be there for you whenever your shattered heart needs mending. Anything for one of several people in the world who I love the most." Luna expressed very warmly.

Now as an encapsulation of her own, Luna gently gave that very little sister of hers a brief kiss on the cheek right as they again parted.

"You know...I think I'm ready to tell everyone else about all that happened today. I don't really want them to worry about me for too much longer." Luan said.

"I think they'll like to know that." Luna agreed, "If you'd like, I can give you a couple minutes to collect yourself further while I tell them you're ready to open up. Plus, it'd give me an excuse to give out a quick apology to our bro for earlier, too."

"Um...all right, if that's what you want to do." Luan said.

With a smile, Luna stood up and was about to head out of the bedroom, but much to her surprise, she saw that very same brother of hers that she planned in apologizing to standing before her right as she opened the door.

"Oh, hi again, Luna." Lincoln said, taken a bit off guard, "Look, I'll make this quick since I know you're still perhaps not in the best of moods, but first I want to apologize for interrupting you and Luan too many times and…"

"Wait, hold up, I should be the one apologizing here, bro." Luna chimed in with an accompanying touch of his shoulder, "I'm sorry for the way I snapped at you like I did. I wasn't so much upset at you as I was getting more worried about Luan and even had a little frustration growing over how she kept refusing at first telling me what's up with her. So all that built up and I unfairly lashed it out at you which should have never happened. So again, sorry for that."

Next, she brought him over into a brief hug, and though he did come off as surprised at that and her apology, Lincoln nonetheless returned the favor.

"Oh, and by the way, thank you for finding that guitar pick of mine, too." Luna added in.

"No problem, Luna...and I guess I'll say thanks for the apology, even though I probably did my part a little in getting you hot under the collar." Lincoln said, "But anyway, I am here for an actual reason. I was chosen by our family to come up and ask if it was possible that Luan could finally talk about what's been making her sad once you were done with her. We really do wish to help her out no matter what her concerns are."

"Really? That's what I was fixing to tell them myself, because she _does_ want to open up about it now." Luna stated sounding very hopeful, "I thought in the meantime she could have a couple more minutes to herself until she's ready to come on down."

"Oh, well that's nice to hear she is willing to talk." Lincoln said, also matching his sister's optimistic tone.

Sharing a quick smile with him, Luna patted his back and proceeded to head on downstairs. Lincoln was about to do the same, but the sudden emergence of Luan from her room made him stop for a moment.

"Oh, Luan." Lincoln simply said to her.

"Hey there, Lincoln. What brings you up here?" Luan asked with a small grin on her face.

"Well, aside from getting an unexpected apology from Luna, I was planning to ask if you were at all ready to talk about whatever occurred today that got you all upset, and apparently according to Luna, you are prepared to do just that." Lincoln replied.

"Yeah, I really am." Luan said.

Having a grin of his own, Lincoln turned around and almost began going down the stairs, but a hand of his shoulder from his sister made him stop and look back.

"Actually, let me tell you this before we go down…" Luan started off with, "Lincoln, you may know this already, but if you have any problems in your life that you wish to talk about with someone, I'm as prepared to listen in and help out as anyone within our family."

"Oh, of course, Luan. And similarly, I can do the same for you, too. That's what family is all about, being there for each other." Lincoln reciprocated the offer to her cordially.

"True...and that is something Luna was very helpful in reminding me about just now. Glad to hear the same from you on top of that." Luan said in accordance, her grin now having become a full-fledged smile.

She concisely placed her arms around her brother and gently hugged him before they both headed down the stairs where the rest of their waiting family was.

In the end, Luan gave the full details about the still freshly heartrending scenes she witnessed between Benny and Maggie. It stunned her family, especially Lincoln to a slightly bigger extent given that he obviously knew about Maggie just like Luan did. But despite the shock, and just like Luna had predicted, they had nothing but sympathy and understanding for Luan over such a saddening situation. It also made her realize just how unnecessary her strange worries about having a cascade of familial concerns coming down on her or aversions to making them sad all the more pointless. Hearing all sorts of encouraging and uplifting words, plus lots of hugs on top of that, was by far the best thing she could ever ask for as a means to feel better about everything.

Amid all the gaggles of loving sentiment from her family, it was one earnest shared look with Luna that Luan engaged in that meant the most, for it was her rocker sister who helped the most in both opening up and sharing her feelings to everyone.

For that small moment among the typical doting chaos that lived up to the their family's surname, no one else mattered to Luan and she'll always know that her older sister and roommate truly was someone she can turn to whenever troubles would arise and she'll never, ever forget that.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah...nothing like some goodness involving a sister pair (and a little of Lincoln, because of course...) that you actually surprisingly don't see a whole lot of despite them being an established pair. Glad to at least make some sort of contribution to that front.
> 
> So yeah, let me clarify a bit more about my decision to have Benny and Maggie become a pair. It was used as nothing more than a plot device and there were no ill intentions involved. I don't exactly care for the idea of Luan being with either Maggie or Benny romantically (in fact, if I haven't ruffled enough feathers, I sort of like the idea of those two being together instead...welp...my big mouth running itself...again...), I wish nothing but the highest and best for those who do like her with either of them. I hate the idea of that I might be rocking the boat too much or getting on the wrong side of anybody with any sort of what could ever be seen as controversial, unorthodox or even unpopular opinions, choices and what have you in relation to The Loud House with what I do, and all I ever like doing with this series in terms of writing is mainly focusing on the positives and taking largely realistic approaches to any negatives and bringing them up into positives. 'Tis my natural inclination with all this at the end of the day.
> 
> Anyway, besides the reason why Luan was heartbroken being somewhat similar, this story actually has a pair of parallels and differences that I never intended on with another story of mine, "An Honest Mistake". Both stories involved a sister coming back home in a saddened state due to witnessing something while out and about, and Luna in both of them seeks to help out in any way. Where they differ is that in the aforementioned story, what Leni saw was only described and eventually with Luna's help she finds out she totally misunderstood everything, while in Luan's case here, the events were actually seen and there was absolutely no mistaking what she witnessed. Heck, I even had Luna reiterated a similar message to Luan about how it shouldn't matter what age siblings are in terms of who's helping or consoling who. But again, these were inadvertent similarities and nothing more.
> 
> Whew...that does it for now. Thank you as always and until the next month, see you then!


End file.
